RUTLAND, Vt. – The Castleton State College men's ice hockey team improved to 6-0 on the season, skating to a 6-3 win over the University of Massachusetts-Boston in ECAC Men's East action Saturday evening at Spartan Arena.

The 6-0 (6-0 ECAC East) start is the best-ever for the third-ranked Spartans, while UMass-Boston falls to 1-4 (1-4).

Nick Lazorko (Rockwall, Texas) led the Spartan offense with two goals and an assist, while Ryan Frost (Fullerton, Calif.), Cody Ayers (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and Dan Bell (Victoria, British Columbia) added a goal and an assist each. Justin Alonzo (San Jose, Calif.) provided three helpers to the balanced scoresheet.

UMass-Boston received a two-goal performance from Jimmy Ennis (Rollinsdale, Mass.) and a single from Mike Degrazia (Novi, Mich.).

Frost put the Spartans on the board 3:05 into the first period and hundreds of stuffed animals littered the ice as part of Teddy Bear Toss night. For the second season, Castleton will donate all of the collected stuffed toys to local children in need this holiday season. Lazorko and Alonzo assisted on the goal, moving the puck from left-to-right where Frost finished with a low wrister.

Six minutes later Frost returned the favor to Lazorko, feeding him on the breakaway for his seventh goal of the season.

Ennis cut the lead in half with his first goal of the season, stuffing home a rebound through traffic, but the Spartans answered with two more goals before the first intermission, including a short-handed tally from Lazorko to push the lead to 4-1.

Ennis provided the lone goal of the second period, and Degrazi made it 4-3 51 seconds into the third, but Castleton responded with goals from Lindsey Gullett (Wawaneesa, Manitoba) and Bell to put the game away.

Castleton goalie Erick Cinotti (Mahwah, N.J.) made 34 saves to earn his fifth win of the season, while Alex Scola (Exeter, N.H.) stopped 17 shots in the loss.

Castleton will play host to non-conference foe Plymouth State on Tuesday at 7 pm, while UMass-Boston heads to non-conference Framingham State Tuesday at 7:20 pm.